In cloud-based telephone systems, when one customer of a cloud-based service calls another customer of the service, the cloud-based service can provide features above and beyond those provided by traditional carriers, e.g., video calls. The cloud-based system can provide these services by extending the call from the caller to the called party strictly through the Internet Protocol (IP) network, bypassing the carrier network. Calls placed to called parties outside of the cloud-based system may be incapable of receiving these additional services as carrier systems may not be configured to handle the traffic formats required to provide the services and/or are incapable of meeting the bandwidth requirements for the additional services.
In variable-length numbering carrier systems, knowledge of the route plan through the network is distributed throughout the entire carrier network. These dial plans are very complex. There may be codes for province/state, city, neighborhood, class of number, or even enterprise extension. As a result, such systems extend calls via the staged collection of digits, otherwise known as overlap signaling. Such systems are prevalent in Europe, and countries such as Germany in particular. Variable-length numbering carrier systems present challenges for cloud-based telephone systems.